Danny Weinkauf
Daniel Stephen Weinkauf is an American musician and composer. He has been the bassist for They Might Be Giants since 1999. He has recorded and toured with the band since the late 1990s.
Weinkauf had previously performed in a band called Lincoln along with TMBG's now lead guitarist Dan Miller and drummer Gonzalo Martinez De La Cotera. He has written four songs for TMBG, all for their children's albums.
Work
Weinkauf wrote and sang "Where Do They Make Balloons?" on the children's album No!, "Number Two" from Here Come The 123s, "I Am a Paleontologist" from Here Comes Science, and "Elephants" from Why?.Weinkauf attended Berklee College of Music for a year and got his start in music in the New York City–based band The Belltower. The band also featured Jody Porter, Britta Phillips, and Pete McNeal. He later played bass on Fountains of Wayne's 1996 debut album. Weinkauf has also played on albums by David Mead, Stephen Fretwell, CandyButchers, and The Davenports, among other musical acts. He and Brian Speiser produced Common Rotation's 2003 album The Big Fear and can be found in two videos of studio footage on their website.
Weinkauf produced the album The Way We Found It for artist Syd. He has also written and produced hundreds of tracks of music for television, commercials, and movies. Credits include: Sex and the City, Malcolm in the Middle, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Jon and Kate plus 8, ABC Wide World of Sports, HBO, CBS Sports, ESPN, Resident Life, History Channel, MTV, Food Network, A&E, Mercedes Benz, Saturn, Burger King, McDonald's, Dunkin Donuts, Radio Shack, Big Brother/Sisters, Elmer's Glue, Kohls, and many others. In 2011, Weinkauf started Red Pants Music which is a website representing his commercial, television, and film composition work.
In April 2014, Weinkauf signed with Idlewild records as a solo children's music artist and released No School Today. No School Today featured 16 tunes penned by Weinkauf with lyrics co-written by others on 3 songs. Weinkauf produced and played all the instruments on the album and featured his wife and two children. Children's musician Laurie Berkner appears as a guest vocalist on "Our Love Fits." Hank Green appears on "The Kidney That Lived in Four People" which he also co-wrote.
In 2014, Weinkauf began releasing albums for children and families including, "No School Today", "Red Pants Band", "Totally Osome!", "Inside I Shine", "Dinosaurs and Metaphors", "Words", "lullabies" and "Light Up Your Love". The later 7 albums were all released on his own label Red Pants Music except "Words".
Weinkauf released videos for several of the album's songs. The album's first single, "Champion of the Spelling Bee", went to #1 on Sirius XM Kids Place Live and featured Weinkauf's 12-year-old son Kai on lead vocals.
In October 2014, Weinkauf released his first holiday single called "Wonderful Christmas Day" as a digital release on Idlewild records. In 2015, Weinkauf released 4 singles including "It's your Birthday", "My Mom", "Only One You", and "Super Powered Mindy" which have all been featured on Kids Place Live. In 2015, Weinkauf also wrote and produced the song and video "B is for Build" for Sesame Street as part of their 47th season.